China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has stated in a report published August 13th that it will be including the development of a blockchain-dedicated laboratory as one of its key labs for 2018.

The Key Laboratory List features 27 proposed lab research divisions ranging from space environment monitoring to big data analysis. The specialized blockchain lab will will be dedicated to researching blockchain security and IT. The project will be headed by the National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center.

China’s MIIT has expressed growing interest in accelerating the country’s blockchain adoption in recent months. Beginning in July, the MIIT’s offical website posted a statement urging the country to launch a united effort to foster blockchain as a core technology in the new digital economy. The statement asserts that a strategic approach to blockchain research would safeguard national economic security and national defense.

In a speech delivered at the 2018 National Expert Forum on Manufacturing Powerful Countries, MIIT deputy director Xin Goubin stated,

“[Blockchain] can make up for the deficienc[ies] of traditional credit system, prevent information tampering and forgery, and save [costs across] society. [This applies to] finance, e-commerce, smart medical care, social security, Internet of Things, energy and other fields, and will have an important impact.”

Then on August 9th, local news agency Xinhua reported that the MIIT had proposed a number of new measures to provide a “healthy and orderly development of the industry.”

China’s government continues to impose some of the world’s strictest regulations against cryptocurrency while at the same time acting as a global leader in blockchain research. Local and Federal governing bodies have invested millions of dollars into the space, and many of China’s biggest corporations, such as industry leading China Telecom, have followed suit. Following the announcement of a joint blockchain research partnership with China Unicorn and China Mobile, China Telecom cited projections that the current $46 million blockchain telecom industry could grow to be a billion dollar industry by 2023.

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